Friday, December 26, 2008

Jamie and I played Wii Sports quite a bit yesterday afternoon, and we are both sore today! We took the fitness test, and I managed to get my fitness age down to 39 from my original score of 55 (yeah, how pitiful!). Jamie's fitness age is 25 - he totally has an unfair advantage. The fitness test is a combination of bowling, tennis, and baseball. Of course he hits a home run every single time he bats. I say they need to add a volleyball section in there, and then we'd have a real competition.

What is even more sad is the fact that Jamie is playing Wii Tennis left handed today, because his right thumb is sore from playing yesterday! And he is still winning. Show off.

Holly & Herman had their last day with us yesterday, on Christmas Eve. When we woke up, they had set up my laptop on the coffee table and gone to Elise's favorite website for playing games. They were playing a Disney game that featured Donald Duck. What tricksters!

Last night Elise gave them hugs and told them goodbye. We knew that when Santa came to visit, he would take Holly & Herman back to the North Pole on his sleigh. Sure enough, when we woke up Christmas morning, they were gone. I actually feel a little sad to see them go. We will miss them and look forward to their return next year.

Monday, December 22, 2008

I was telling Jamie tonight how hard it is to believe that Christmas is only a couple of days away now. Every year there is such a build up to the big day and so much time goes into preparations - gift buying, wrapping, decorating, menu planning, grocery shopping, cooking, etc...then it seems like the actual day sneaks up on us.

It occurred to me tonight that we only have 2 more nights with Holly & Herman until they return to the North Pole for the next 11 months or so. I think we really need to make the most of it, so I am trying to get a little bit more elaborate with these last 2 days.

Tomorrow morning Elise will find Holly & Herman on the kitchen table with her crayons and Christmas coloring book...and they've gotten a bit artistic! Of course, who would expect anything less from a pair of mischevious Christmas Elves??

We will have to save their art work for Elise's scrapbook...which unfortunately is a full year and a half behind. How the heck did that happen?? I think I feel a New Year's resolution coming...

Sunday, December 21, 2008

We are in the final countdown to Christmas Eve, which means Santa will be here soon! This also means that Holly & Herman are taking full advantage of their last few days with us. In the past few days they have...

hung from the ceiling fan

taken down the stockings

and turned on cartoons!

There is just no telling what else they may do between now and Christmas Eve.

I have finally completed the Christmas shopping and gotten all the gifts wrapped. That is a good feeling, although I wish it had been done a few weeks ago. I also did a little bit of cooking this weekend, because I like to have a lot of yummy things to munch on around the house for the holidays. All in all, I think we are ready for Santa!

I got tickets a few months ago to take Jamie to see a double header at the Toyota Center. I have been sweating it out for weeks now with the playoff run in football, wondering if we would be able to use the tickets. As it turned out, we were free this weekend, so we saw UT vs Michigan State and A&M vs LSU. It was a fun day out, and Jamie really enjoyed seeing UT. Unfortunately they lost in the last few seconds of the game...still it was a fun experience. We did have a questionable Michigan State fan sitting right next to us - the creepy factor was high with that dude! But we made the best of it.

We also got to see James Blasczyk take the court for A&M. He graduated from FHS last year. Here he is shooting during warm-ups.

Elise's dance instructor had a parent observation today, and I took the morning off to go watch. It was super cute. This is my favorite dance, which is actually their Halloween dance. She said the kids loved it so much, they had to perform it during the Christmas show!

I also got to help out with her class Christmas party. Wow, what a bunch of excited and crazy 4 year olds! God bless their teachers is all I can say. Santa Claus made an appearance, which was a huge hit.

There was so much food. And cupcakes. And cookies. And candy. It was a child's version of heaven!

Food, music, dancing, and Santa...it just doesn't get much better than this.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

This one is from yesterday and requires some explanation. Every evening I lay Elise's clothes for the next day on the coffee table (well, that is if I don't forget!). This makes it a bit easier for Jamie to dress her in the morning and get her off to school. So, yesterday morning, Elise found Herman with her panties on his head and wearing her shirt. Jamie said this one was a huge hit.

I can't decide if I am happy due to the fact that I have a husband who is interested in staying healthy and fit, or if I should feel like a slacker because I am sitting on the sofa watching him! I am thinking that slacker prevails.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Holly & Herman have been with us for a while now, and we are starting to get to know them better. It is becoming more and more apparent that Herman is the brains behind the mischievous operation. Just look at what he did on Friday night.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

I've always loved sports for as long as I can remember. As a child, I would get to stay up late to watch games with my dad. KU basketball of course! I also remember being an avid Oilers fan back when they were in Houston, and completely infatuated with Rockets during their championship years. There's just something about sports that I love.

I think one of the main reasons that I love sports is that they teach a lot about life. You've heard the saying, "Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten". Well, everything I need to know, I learned while playing team sports. I learned perseverance, the value of hard work (and also that sometimes hard work isn't enough), how to motivate others and what motivates me, interpersonal skills, sportsmanship, how good it feels to win and how bad it feels to lose. I also learned that even when you are one of the best, most sought after players in the state, sometimes you run across someone who is better. I thought about this lesson a lot today at our state semifinal loss against Lake Travis High School. That is a tough one to learn, especially when you are accustomed to success. But it stays with you throughout life and reminds you to be humble in your successes and gracious in your failures.

Hats off to Lake Travis and Garrett Gilbert. They were simply the better team. We could have fumbled less, made a few more tackles, or thrown fewer interceptions...but honestly at the end of the day, they were just better. Give credit where credit is due. Congratulations to them, and best of luck next week in the state championship game. They truly deserve to be the ones going.

As for our team - there is absolutely no shame in losing to Lake Travis. No one else has beat them this year (or last year for that matter). We had an amazing run, and it was so much fun to be along for the ride. I always get a little bit sad at the end of a season. Not because of the game or a loss, but because of the relationships. It's hard to say goodbye to the seniors each year, knowing how much their lives are about to change. Jamie gets quite attached to them, of course, and I really grow to know them through his stories and watching them play. I also think it brings back memories of my own senior year and saying goodbye to my high school career.

For me, the transition from high school to college was the hardest transition of my life thus far. Harder than the transition into motherhood and the transition of divorce. I know that sounds crazy, but I truly feel that way. There was something very traumatic about leaving my home and the friends I'd known since 3rd grade and moving away to a new town to start all over as an adult. I remember standing in my room the night before I left for college and thinking to myself that things would never be the same again - and they weren't. We think when we bid farewell to high school that we will keep in touch with all our friends - that we will still see each other and be a big part of one another's lives. And we do for a little while. But time passes and people move in different directions...and we lose touch.

I watched as the kids patted one another on the backs on the sidelines and gave hugs. Some of these friendships are years in the making, and the bond between teammates is strong. Think of all they have shared with one another. I know they are thinking their friendships will endure the trip to college. Some of them will, but the reality is that most of them will not. It's hard to imagine everyone scattering to the wind, but I know in just a few short months, that is what will happen. It's not a bad thing, necessarily. Still it does make me a little sad.

Of course there is always a silver lining. We won't be playing for a state championship this year, but we far exceeded expectations by being one of the 4 best teams in the huge state of Texas. Our quarterback will play next year for Texas Tech, and a few other seniors may get offers to play in college as well. It will be a blast to watch Tech on television in the next few years to come. And Jamie and I will get our lives back! Well, at least for about the next 6 weeks until baseball starts again. We haven't had a full weekend together as a family since late July, so it is long overdue. I know Jamie is exhausted and can really use the break. I had a quiet moment in the stands tonight during the 4th quarter when it was incredibly apparent that we would not win. I just felt so thankful and blessed. I'm so thankful to be healthy & to have found a man like Jamie to share my life. I wish things could have been different today, but I cannot spend much time feeling bad about how it turned out. We are just too fortunate to be overly upset about a football game.

Congratulations to the 2008 Friendswood Mustangs on a season that has been unmatched since 1973!!!! What memories we will have of this wonderful year...just another reason to be thankful. :)

Friday, December 12, 2008

Jamie hasn't slept much this week in anticipation of tomorrow's state semifinal against Austin Lake Travis. They are a formidable opponent thanks to their quarterback who is a top recruit in the nation and will be attending the University of Texas next year. But don't rule us out! We also have a great quarterback and the will to win. The Chronicle ran a good article today discussing the highly anticipated game.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The snow really started to pick up, so we got Elise out of bed, threw our jackets on over our PJs, and went back outside! She was able to build a small snowman and have a snowball fight with Jamie. Bailey and Dexter also got to play in the snow in the back yard. It's now way past our bedtime and we are guaranteed to have a cranky little girl on our hands in the morning, but we couldn't pass up this opportunity - it will be melted by tomorrow.

I know for many people that is no big deal, and sometimes even an annoyance. However, to those of us living in the Houston area, this is a rare event and one to be celebrated. I remember vividly the last time it snowed. It was the evening of December 24, 2004. I remember so well for 2 reasons. The first is because it was Christmas Eve, and the second is because it was Elise's first Christmas. We had a White Christmas that year.

Of course Elise doesn't remember one bit of that, so this is her first experience with snow! Unfortunately we didn't get much - not even enough to coat the ground. But at least she got to go outside and play as it fell for a few minutes. She had a ball!

This morning we awoke to discover that Holly & Herman had been playing with our Christmas tree ornaments last night while we slept. They made quite a mess, and Elise had to put some of the ornaments back on the tree. She was so excited about this discovery that she had to call me at work to tell me all about it.

Here's what you do...Grab the book nearest to you, find page 56. Go to the fifth line. Type it, and the few following. Of course, tell us the name and author of the book. Let us know if it's a good read, because we all need good reads!!

You know I'm choosing one of the Twilight books, and since my copies of Twilight and New Moon are currently loaned to friends, I grabbed Eclipse (Stephenie Meyer).

"I told you I didn't want to fight with Charlie.""Nobody said that you had to."I glowered at him. "I can't help myself when he gets all bossy like that - my natural teenage instincts overpower me."He chuckled. "Well, that's not my fault." I stared at him, speculating. He didn't seem to notice. His face was serene as he gazed out the windshield. Something was off, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Or maybe it was just my imagination running wild again like it had this afternoon.Ooohh...now I can't stop reading!

An interesting conversation occurred after Elise discovered Holly & Herman in the marshmallows this morning. It went kind of like this.

Jamie: Elise! Look what Holly & Herman did last night!Elise: Santa did that, because they are just dolls.Jamie: No, they are magic elves, and they come to life when we are not watching.Elise: We better hide the marshmallows then, so they don't get into them again! I think they ate one!

Two thoughts occurred to me when Jamie told me about this exchange between them this morning.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

We have 2 new, mischievous visitors in the Crocker household. Santa sent Holly & Herman to stay with us from now until Christmas Eve. They will be keeping an eye on Elise to be sure she behaves like a good girl and sending reports back to Santa at the North Pole. When Santa visits us this Christmas Eve, he will take Holly & Herman with him back to the North Pole where they will stay until this time next year.

While they are visiting, the elves tend to explore at night while we sleep, and are known for getting into mischief. There is no telling what kinds of things they might do, and what we might wake up to find each morning! It is going to be a fun few weeks leading up to Christmas Eve.

Credit for this fun idea goes to Elise's stepmom, Ashley. I'm so glad she told me about this. Once she mentioned it, we both started doing a bit of research and found that many variations of the Christmas Elves exist. One of the more popular versions is called Elf on a Shelf. However, the elf that comes with it is just not nearly as cute as Holly & Herman. We are kind of making up our own version of Elf on a Shelf. We ordered our elves on Amazon, and I typed up a letter from Santa that they are bringing with them on their first day to visit. Elise will wake up tomorrow morning to see them hanging out on top of our television set with the note from Santa. I can only hope that we will see nothing but excellent behavior now that she knows the elves are watching her closely. :)

We pulled off an amazing win tonight over Beaumont Central High School to advance to the state semifinals! It was very close, with a final score of 20-19, and very exciting to be the team that came out on top! It was also very cold.

We will be heading to College Station next Saturday to play at Kyle Field (the home of the Texas A&M Aggies). This is all pretty surreal to me, and it must be to Jamie as well. We were just state semifinalists in baseball about six months ago, and here we are again. We really just have to pause and recognize how huge that is, and how many coaches dream of going this far and never get the opportunity in their entire career. And here we are doing it twice in one calendar year. Amazing. Jamie is so fortunate to be in this position.

Our opponent next week, Lake Travis, is VERY tough. We heard on the sidelines tonight that they defeated Killeen earlier today by some outrageous score of 70-something to 9. Yikes. It will be tough, but we can do it!

I was thinking back today on the rocky start to the season with Hurricane Ike and the cancellation of almost our entire pre-district season. It's amazing that it began that way and has taken us this far. Here is the playoff bracket so you can actually see just how far we've come.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

I've had 2 bad experiences in a row with them now. I ordered some Halloween cards from them in October, and they never seem to have the order completed when they tell you it will be complete. At least I did get the Halloween cards, even though they were late. That is more than I can say for the Christmas cards.

I spent around 3 hours last Saturday evening working on a design for our Christmas cards. I was using a similar theme to the "All we want for Christmas is a state championship" on the right side of the page. I spent a lot of time editing the photos - I had put together 3 different pictures from football games this year. I made 2 versions of the card - one in color and one in black & white to see which looked nicer in the preview. I took a lot of time experimenting with a lot of different templates to choose the nicest one. The point is - I really put a lot of time and effort into it!

So, I finally perfected the card and sent it for printing at Walgreen's. Snapfish's site told me that the cards would be ready on Sunday morning by 9:20. Remembering my Halloween experience, I did not show up at 9:20 for the cards. Instead I waited until after 11:00. I went in and it took them around 30 minutes to even locate my order in their system. Originally they told me they did not have it. I kept insisting that they did, and finally they found it. But their machines were still warming up, so they hadn't started printing any photos yet for the day (STILL warming up at 11:00???). I was told my order was first in line to print as soon as the machines were warmed up. So, I left somewhat agitated, but planning to return later on Sunday to pick up the cards.

I went back in around 3:30. Surely that would have given them enough time, right? After all, my order is first in line, right? Wrong. It's still not ready. After about another 15 minutes of investigation, I am told that my order has been CANCELLED. Yes, cancelled. Seriously. I wait another 5 minutes or so while they check to see if they can resend it for printing. Nope. It's just GONE. And I really think the lady behind the counter could not have cared less. By this time I had spent about 3 hours designing the card, made 2 trips up to Walgreen's, and waited almost an hour...and still had NO cards. And even better, all my work on the design had been deleted.

I will NEVER, EVER place a photo order with Walgreen's again.

I went home and designed a different card through WalMart's site, and this time I just opted to have the cards shipped to me at home. I'm not getting out in the crowds for a third time to get Christmas cards. At the end of the day it seems to have worked out quite well. I am paying around $30 less through Wal Mart, and I received notification that my order was shipped to me yesterday.

Also, just FYI: WalMart has all the same templates for cards that are on Snapfish's site, and they are less than HALF the cost. I ended up changing the theme of our card, so now we won't be sending out any cute football cards (it just took too long to get that right the first time). But I am pretty happy with the card I designed. It will work out okay, even though it's not as cute as the original card.

I am pleased to say that I finished shopping for Elise before Thanksgiving this year. Every year I say I am going to do that, and this year I finally did! Hooray! I'm really excited about what Santa is bringing this year. Elise will wake up on Christmas morning to this dollhouse. I think she is at the perfect age for it and will love it!

She will also get a set of Tinker Toys from Santa and a set of Polly Pocket dolls/accessories from Jamie and I. I bought stocking stuffers from the dollar bins at Target. They had some really fun stuff, including a Hello Kitty wallet, Disney princess lipglosses, fun holiday socks, Hello Kitty pens, some art supplies, etc.

I have ordered a few gifts for the rest of the family, and Elise and I will be working on a secret Christmas gift project for all the grandparents and great grandparents this Friday as well. Hopefully by the end of the weekend, I will be about 90% finished with all the shopping. I'm still clueless about what to get Jamie this year. We set a price limit for each other, and I am having a hard time coming up with anything that stays within the limit. Hopefully I'll come up with a great idea soon.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Over the last few days, we decorated the Christmas trees at our house and Grandma & Pa Pa's. It went pretty well - we only broke one ornament this year. I'm wanting to have some sort of "theme" for our tree, but since I haven't come up with anything I love yet, we are just using the plain colored balls. They look pretty, so until I get a great idea for a themed tree, we will continue to use them.

This year Elise was really into decorating. It has been fun to watch her. After she went to bed, I had to "fix" the tree, because she hung all the ornaments in the same spot. I didn't have the heart to fix it while she was still awake - I just told her what a great job she did. :) After we finished the tree, we put on our pajamas, made some popcorn, and snuggled on the couch to watch Frosty the Snowman. It was a fun evening!

I am finished decorating inside, but I have no idea when (or if) we will get to the outdoor decorations. It's dark outside by the time we get home in the evenings, and weekends are consumed with football for now. We will at least get our snowman out sometime this week, and if that is all we do this year, it will be okay. It's just not worth stressing over.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Today's game was great - then again, anytime we win it is great! But how exciting to be 3 games away from a state championship. Wow. It's hard to believe. First baseball and now football. 2 trips deep into the playoffs within a 6-month period. We are exhausted, but in a good way. I say "we", but really Jamie is the one working 7 days a week. Elise and I are just along for the ride. Hopefully we can play for 3 more weeks, and then enjoy a much needed break for a few weeks before baseball gears up again.

We will face Beaumont Central next Saturday evening in the Woodlands for the Regional Finals.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

I can't believe it's Thanksgiving again already. It does not seem like that long ago that I was writing my last post about thankfulness. I guess time flies when you are having fun! I still remember Jamie and I making pies together in the kitchen last year - it really seems like it was just a few months ago.

This year I thought I would make a list of all the things I am thankful for again. I know - not very creative. But I think it's a good exercise to pause and think of all the ways in which you are blessed. Sometimes during the year we have a tendancy to focus on what we don't have, so I am glad Thanksgiving comes around once a year to bring the focus back to what we do have.

This year I am thankful for:

Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee

Jamie and Elise (of course!)

Our bed - I know, that is odd, but I just love our bed. I get such restful sleep in it.

The health of our family - Praise God for another year of good health!!! This is truly priceless.

Our first full family vacation to Disney & our adult trip to Vegas this past summer

Our jobs - With the economy in an incredibly fragile state, I am immensely thankful that Jamie and I both have reliable employment.

Jamie's successes, which include a trip to the state tournament in baseball and a playoff run in football that continues as I type this post

Our dogs, and the fact that they are finally outgrowing their chewing stage

My new lemon cookie recipe

Twilight - What a wonderful escape these books have been for me.

Happy hour at Sonic

Time spent with dad on my Fridays off

Sunny 99.1 and around the clock Christmas music!

The safety of our family and friends during Hurricane Ike, and the generosity of our neighbors during the clean-up efforts.

Electricity! Boy, we learned during the hurricane just how much we take that for granted!

S Factor hair products

Fuzzy Crocs - These things make the best house slippers on earth!

Cool Whip

Pinot Grigio

And most of all - Jamie & Elise. I know I already said that, but it's worth mentioning twice :)

Sunday, November 23, 2008

With an exciting win yesterday, the Mustangs advance to the Area Finals! We will be playing Magnolia next Saturday at 1:00 at Aldine. Ironically, one of my friends called today to confirm that Jamie coaches at Friendswood - her brother-in-law is coaching at Magnolia! I was joking with her and told her that we would have to be enemies for the next week or so. :) As promised, here are pictures from the game:

Friday, November 21, 2008

I've been so wrapped up in other things (ummm...lusting over Edward Cullen), that I haven't given proper football updates in a while!

We had a great first round playoff win against Lamar Consolidated - the 2007 Texas 4A State Champions. It was a close game and very exciting. It was also Jamie's first ever football playoff win.

We will be playing Westbury in the area finals tomorrow afternoon. I forgot my camera last week (I am so mad at myself for that!), but I am going to be sure to remember it tomorrow. I should have pictures to share on Sunday.

Jamie and I went to see Twilight today. Although I was excited to go see the movie, I was not expecting much. I didn't think there was any possible way it could ever live up to the book. I was very pleasantly surprised!!! I *loved* it!

The casting was phenomenal. The Cullens were all depicted nearly exactly as I pictured them. Bella's truck was perfect - the houses were perfect - the woods and the school - it was all designed with wonderful attention to the details in the book. I really loved that. I was super skeptical that anyone could do justice to Edward, but I think Rob pulled it off!

A few things were changed, and I will admit that the meadow scene from chapter 13 did disappoint me. Then again, I don't know if anything could have ever been good enough as far as that goes. It was my favorite chapter of all 4 books.

Jasper's character was a hoot, and they really portrayed a perfect Alice in my opinion.

Overall, I thought it was wonderful. I'd been hearing that people who didn't read the books would not like the movie, but Jamie (who has not read the books) went along with me and said he actually really did enjoy it. I already want to see it again, and I am planning to take my dad after the crowds die down a bit. Our theater was PACKED at 10:00 in the morning, and all other shows are sold out.

I'm already anxious to see the rest of the books brought to life on the big screen, so I know it's going to be a long wait for New Moon & Eclipse (and hopefully Breaking Dawn if they can arrange a deal to make the last movie).

And now the big question...what book should I read next? The Twiligt saga is a tough act to follow, so I don't even know where to start.